Miscellaneous thoughts and discoveries on genealogy, family history and family photos.

Photo – An Old Photo Postcard

Here’s another photo from my Grandpa’s collection. (See A Family Photo Jackpot for the story of my gradually scanning/preserving a large collection of old photos).

I’m actually showing two photos—front and back of an old photo postcard, sent from St. Paul, to Bemidji, MN. What’s wonderful about its being a postcard is that the postmark on the card exactly dates the card, if not the photo itself. The date the card was sent was 16 March, 1907.

And here is the address side of the card. (For a large version, click here).

Note that this is a real photo postcard—one in which the photographic paper on which the photo was developed was itself then sent as the postcard. You can read a little bit about the history of vintage photo postcards at Playle’s Real Photo Postcards. This particular card is printed on “Azo” paper, made by Kodak. In my scan, you can see the word “AZO” just below the stamp. You can also match the pattern below the stamp with the patterns listed on the Playle’s site.

The stamp is a 1902-1903 issue 1 penny stamp with the image of Ben Franklin. Here’s a site with more info.

So who are these kids? The boy on the far right in the back row is my grandfather, Ted Sexton. He was born in April of 1902, so he was nearly 5 years old when this photo was taken. Immediately to his right is his older brother Judd (Gerald), born in 1899. On Judd’s lap is their baby brother George, born 24 Aug, 1906 (so he’d be just under 7 months in this photo). Standing in the white dress to George’s right (our left), is my grandfather’s sister Kit (Kathryn), born 4 Sep, 1904. So she’d be 2-1/2 yrs old in this photo.

So we have the four oldest kids in my grandpa’s family. (There were eventually 12 children). The family lived in Bemidji, MN, where my great-grandfather worked for the lumber mill. (You can see an earlier photo of great-grandpa bill, from his earlier days working in a lumber camp in the woods). Through old family photos, I’m also fairly sure that the family lived at this time in an area of Bemidji known as “Mill Park”. The address on the postcard seems to confirm this, since you can see “Mill Park” written on the lower left.

What I love about the address is how it’s addressed merely to “Mr. W. Sexton”, Bemidji, Minn. And then Mill Park is penciled in, almost as an afterthought. I have a feeling, however, that the postcard would have found it’s way to Bill even had “Mill Park” been left off the card.

The remaining three kids on the card are all first cousins of my grandpa Ted. They are all children of two of my great-grandmother’s sisters. Great grandma Liz (Elizabeth) Carroll was married to Bill Sexton. The boy on the far left in the photo is John Lytle, born 15 Dec, 1902, to Margaret Carroll and George Lytle, in St. Paul. The sticker on the back of the photo lists Annie Carroll’s children as the two girls in the front and incorrectly lists one of them as “Melvin”. Annie Carroll refers to great-grandma’s sister Helen Carroll, who did have a son Melvin, born on 17 Jan, 1905 in St. Paul. Melvin would have been too young to be the boy in the back. So the two girls in the front are likely Helen’s twin girls Lottie and Catherine Hall, born 4/5 Jan, 1903 in St. Paul. (Just over 3 yrs old in this photo).

I don’t know any portion of the story behind this photo. But based on the date, the location, and the kids in the photo, I can make an educated guess. My guess is that my great-grandma traveled from Bemidji down to St. Paul in Spring, once the snow started to melt, to visit two of her sisters. She brought all four of her children, and then the women went to a local photo studio in St. Paul to get the photo of all of the kids taken.

One interesting thing is that the photo contains seven of the eight children that great-grandma Liz and her siblings would have had, as of Spring of 1907. Missing is Melvin Hall, the boy mentioned on the label on the back of the card. It’s quite possible that the boy in the back (on our left) is Melvin, rather than John Lytle. Then we’d have all four of Liz’ children and all three of her sister Annie’s children as well. Only missing would be John, only child of Liz’ sister Margaret.

This photo is definitely a treasure. I love the looks on the kids’ faces and the idea that they’d likely been spending a number of days playing together and getting to know each other.

Here are some higher resolution shots of some of the kids in the photo:

4 Responses

I so like it that Uncle Gerald (Judd) is holding the baby because he loved children and kids loved him! When he visited Grandma & Grandpa in Bemidji he always took one or two neices/nephews with him when he visited neighbors and friends. He had one finger that had been cut off to the first knuckle and he did a trick with it to fool children. He was a joyful guy!

Thanks for the wonderful photo. What a find. The boy in the back left must be Baby John Lytle. Melvin Hall would have been only two when photo was taken.
For a time, the Halls lived in the same neighborhood with the Lytles. Bill Hall, Melvin’s brother, told me that John Lytle was always called Baby John, even when he grew up. So, the label “Baby John” fits for him.

I met Kit when I was about 3 years old, and we moved in across the hall from her in Long Beach. She was one of the most important people in my life growing up. Seeing her about the age I was when I met her is so wonderful. Thank you for posting this!